David Sergio Trezeguet (, ; born 15 October 1977) is a French former professional footballer who played as a striker. Trezeguet played in teams like Monaco, Juventus and River Plate, he also was part of the France national team who won the 1998 FIFA World Cup and the UEFA Euro 2000, scoring the golden goal in the final.
Trezeguet began his career in Argentina with Club Atlético Platense at the age of eight, progressing through their youth system to their first team, where he made his debut in the Primera División in 1994. After one season, he transferred to Division 1 side Monaco, where he would form a striking partnership with international teammate Thierry Henry, winning the league in the 1996–97 season. He left the club in 2000, having scored 52 goals in 93 Division 1 appearances and having claimed two Division 1 championships and the 1997 Trophée des champions.
In 2000, Trezeguet signed for Serie A club Juventus for a transfer fee of £20 million. With 24 goals, he was the joint recipient of the Capocannoniere award for top scorer as his team won the 2001–02 Serie A title; Trezeguet also scored eight goals in 10 Champions League appearances as Juventus reached the second round of the tournament. Despite struggling with injuries the following season, he won another league title with the club, and also scored four goals in 10 Champions League appearances as Juventus reached the final of the tournament, eventually losing 2–3 on penalties to Milan, as Trezeguet missed his spot kick in the resulting shoot-out. Overall, Trezeguet scored 138 goals in 245 league appearances for Juventus, making him the fourth-highest goalscorer in the club's history. Later in his career he had brief spells in Spain, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina and India.
Born in France where his Argentine father was playing football, Trezeguet grew up in Argentina. At international level, Trezeguet chose to represent the France national team. He scored 34 goals in 71 appearances for France between 1998 and 2008. He also played for France at under–18, under–20, and under–21 levels. Trezeguet represented France at the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, the 1998 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2000, the 2002 World Cup, Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup (where he missed his penalty in the shoot-out against Italy in the final). Trezeguet is part of the FIFA 100 list of 125 Greatest living players. In 2015, he was named one of the Golden Foot Award Legends.
Early life David Sergio Trezeguet was born on 15 October 1977 in Rouen, Seine-Maritime, France, but grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His father Jorge Trezeguet was playing football for FC Rouen. He left the club in 1979 and returned to Argentina with his family. In 1999, David Trezeguet married Beatriz, who is from Alicante, Spain. They have two sons together, Aarón (born 2000) and Noraan (born 2008). They divorced in 2012.
Club career Platense Trezeguet began his career at Platense in the Argentine Primera División, where he played his first professional game on 12 June 1994 as a 16-year-old in a 1–1 tie against Gimnasia. After just five matches with the team, he moved to play for AS Monaco.
Monaco In 1995, he was close to joining Paris Saint-Germain, but the deal was cancelled after the two clubs failed to agree a deal. Shortly afterwards, he opted to join Monaco. Monaco coach Jean Tigana was "impressed" by Trezeguet, who scored five goals in trial, signing a deal which saw him earn 15,000 francs a month. Trezeguet spent two seasons with Monaco B, having made just nine appearances in total for the club's first team during his first two seasons. In 1998, Trezeguet scored the fastest ever goal in terms of velocity in UEFA Champions League history in a quarter-final match against Manchester United. The shot that resulted in a goal was clocked at 97.6 mph (157.3 km/h). With Monaco, he won Ligue 1 twice and was named Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year in 1998. He scored a total of 60 goals in 113 appearances for the Monégasque club and it was here that he made his name as a potent goalscoring poacher.
Juventus During his first season with Juventus, under manager Carlo Ancelotti, Trezeguet managed 14 goals in Serie A, despite being predominantly utilised as a substitute striker, behind Filippo Inzaghi, who started alongside Alessandro Del Piero. Juventus missed out on the 2000–01 Serie A title that season, finishing in second place behind Roma. In his second season at the club, under manager Marcello Lippi, he scored 24 league goals in 34 league matches to finish as the Serie A top goalscorer, along with Dario Hübner of Piacenza, as Juventus won the 2001–02 Serie A title. That same season, he was named Serie A Footballer of the Year and Serie A Foreign Footballer of the Year, also reaching the final of the 2001–02 Coppa Italia; he also scored eight goals in ten UEFA Champions League appearances, although the club were eliminated in the second round of the competition. In January 2002, a car carrying Trezeguet and teammates Mark Iuliano, Gianluca Zambrotta and Enzo Maresca after a 3–1 win over Hellas Verona, collided with two others; none of the four players were injured in the accident.
In his third season, his appearances were limited by injuries, although he still helped Juventus to defend the Serie A title, also winning the 2002 Supercoppa Italiana and scoring four goals in ten appearances as Juventus reached the 2003 UEFA Champions League Final. In the final, Trezeguet was one of three Juventus players to have their penalty saved by Milan keeper Dida, as Juventus lost 3–2 on penalty kicks after a 0–0 draw. This would be the closest Trezeguet ever got to winning the Champions League. During the 2003–04 season, Trezeguet helped the team to win a second consecutive Supercoppa Italiana title, scoring a goal during the match, also reaching another Coppa Italia final, although their European and domestic league campaigns would be less successful, despite his 16 goals in Serie A that season, as the club finished the league in third place. In 2004, Brazilian legend Pelé included Trezeguet in the FIFA 100, his list of the 125 greatest living footballers.
Although Trezeguet won the 2004–05 Serie A and 2005–06 Serie A titles with Juventus, scoring 23 league goals in the 2005–06 season, Juventus were caught in the 2006 Italian football scandal that rocked Italian football, and along with Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio, and Reggina were accused of match fixing. While the players had no part in the scandal, Juventus were subsequently stripped of their 2004–05 and 2005–06 titles, relegated to Serie B, and were to start the 2006–07 season with a deficit of 30 points, eventually reduced to nine points on appeal. Following the enforced relegation to Serie B, the club lost several of its star players, including Fabio Cannavaro to Real Madrid, Gianluca Zambrotta to Barcelona, Adrian Mutu to Fiorentina, and Zlatan Ibrahimović to Internazionale. Trezeguet's compatriots Lilian Thuram and Patrick Vieira also left Juventus, for Barcelona and Inter, respectively. Manager Fabio Capello defected to Real Madrid and former Juventus legend and Trezeguet's former France teammate and captain, Didier Deschamps, was appointed the new manager of Juve. As one of the club's star players, Trezeguet was heavily linked to a move away from Juventus, but he ultimately stayed with the Bianconeri to help the club return to Italy's top flight.
On 16 September 2006, before Juventus' Serie B match against Vicenza, he was awarded a commemorative plate in recognition of his 125 career goals. On 19 May 2007, Juventus achieved promotion to Serie A after a 5–1 win over Arezzo. Trezeguet scored the fifth goal which made the promotion mathematically possible. Despite the successful return to Serie A, and an eventual Serie B title, the season was not without controversy. After scoring a goal in Juventus' final match of the 2006–07 Serie B season against Spezia, Trezeguet made a gesture toward the club president, making a number 15 with his fingers – the number of goals he scored throughout the Serie B season – which was followed by a hand gesture which, in Italian, means "I'm out of here". Juventus, however, announced on 25 June 2007 that Trezeguet had renewed his contract until 2011.
During the 2007–08 Serie A season, Trezeguet scored 20 league goals and was second only to teammate and club captain Alessandro Del Piero for the Capocannoniere. Juventus finished third in the league to qualify for the Champions League after missing out on the tournament for two consecutive seasons. In the 2008–09 season, Trezeguet sustained a groin injury that kept him out for most of the season. Trezeguet finally made his return on 4 February 2009 against Napoli in the Coppa Italia and had a goal controversially disallowed. Nevertheless, he was one of the players who scored in the penalty shootout, which Juventus won 4–3. Trezeguet would shortly get his first goal of 2009 in a 2–0 win against Palermo in late February – a match where he received the captaincy for the first time in his professional career. Juventus finished the season in second place in the league, also reaching the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia and the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League. On 9 December 2009, Trezeguet scored his 168th goal for Juventus in a 4–1 defeat to Bayern Munich in the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League, making him the club's highest-ever foreign goalscorer, surpassing Omar Sívori's total of 167 goals. At the end of the 2009–10 season, Trezeguet ranked fourth among Juventus' all-time top goalscorers with 171 goals. In August 2010, he was released from the remaining 12 months of his contract by Juventus.Trezeguet released by Juve and set to join Hercules Reuters
Hércules
On 28 August 2010, Trezeguet completed his move to newly promoted La Liga team Hércules on a two-year deal; the club is based in his then wife's hometown. He made his debut on 11 September in a 2–0 surprise victory against defending champions Barcelona. Eight days later, Trezeguet scored his first goal for the club, a conversion from the penalty spot in a 2–1 loss against Valencia. He was unable to prevent relegation for the side, however, and left the club at the start of the summer of 2011. Trezeguet made 31 league appearances and scored 12 goals, making him the club's top goalscorer for the season.
Baniyas On 30 August 2011, Trezeguet completed his move to UAE Pro-League side Baniyas on a one-year deal. On 21 November 2011, his contract was mutually terminated due to an injury which had kept him sidelined for most of the season. Trezeguet only appeared in the opening league match and a fixture in the Etisalat Emirates Cup for Baniyas.
River Plate On 19 December 2011, Trezeguet moved to River Plate in Argentina on a three-year contract, shortly after the club was relegated to the Argentine second division for the first time in its history. Trezeguet, a childhood fan of River, having grown up in Buenos Aires, spoke of it as his dream move, saying, "Being here is a unique feeling, motivated by everything that River represents." On 19 January 2012, Trezeguet scored in his first appearance for River Plate in a friendly match against Racing Club. He made his official debut on 13 February 2012. He played his first match at Estadio Monumental the following week and scored his first official goal for River Plate after coming on as a substitute. On 26 February, he scored his second official goal, again after coming on as a substitute in the second half.